It has been revealed by Channel One that the Russian entry for the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest in Moscow will be chosen during a series of TV shows. The country also turned to a televised national final last year, when Channel Russia was responsible for the selection.
Channel One has been responsible for the Russian entries in theEurovision Song Contest (or �в�овидение in Russian) in 1995 and from 1997 to 2007. Only once, a televised selection was held: In 2005, Natalia Podolskaya was chosen inthe national final to represent the country in the Eurovision Song Contest just to achieve Russia's worst result since the exhaustive introduction of televoting. Channel Russia selected the Russian entries in 1994, 1996 and 2008 with mixed results: Debut entrant Youddiph finished 10th in 1994 andAndrej Kosinki did not even pass the internal qualification round in 1996. However, in 2008 Dima Bilan gave the country its only victory so far.
The 2008 Russian national final was the biggest one of the season with no less than 27 songs in one show. 2006 entrant Dima Bilan won the selection and went to Belgrade, where he finished third in the first semi final and took home the trophy in the final. The 2009 Eurovision Song Contest will hence be held in Moscow, where Russia is directly qualifed for the final.
